Fancy some city living with a midcentury twist? Well, if you have the money to spare, you can secure yourself this two-bedroom penthouse maisonette in 1970s-designed Barbican, London EC2.
It's arranged over the fifth, sixth and seventh floors of Bunyan Court, on the north side of a development that was finally completed in 1972 to a design by architects Chamberlin, Powell & Bon. The site was Grade II listed in 2001 in recognition of its architectural significance and still looks striking today.
Looking for some interiors inspiration? A flick through the 200-plus pages of Handcrafted Modern by Leslie Williamson should give you some ideas. As implied by its subtitle, 'At home with mid-century designers', these are directly drawn from the homes of some of our best loved designers.
In this highly visual book, photographer Williamson goes to the homes of 14 different mid-century designers to look at their own interpretations of modernism. As part of her quest she only visits homes that have been left unchanged (although some are now museums), including the abodes of George Nakashima, Harry Bertoia and Charles and Ray Eames, as well as the highlight of seeing inside Walter Gropius's Bauhaus home in Massachusetts, USA.
Published by Rizzoli, it's currently for sale for £25.50 on Amazon.
The Buildings Mug by Beyond the Valley should appeal to anyone with an interest in architecture as it is printed with various styles of buildings, including several Brutalist style tower blocks.
The mug has been created by Beyond the Valley, which is a designer boutique in Carnaby Street, who have now expanded into producing their own label of clothes and homewares. The mug is made from white ceramic with a black print, and the Beyond the Valley logo printed on the base.
The mug costs £15 and can be bought online from Culture Label.
Art deco house by the seaside? We have one right here, this quirky Robert Messenger & Son-designed four-bedroom art deco house in Birchington, Kent.
It was built in 1938 for the retired sea captain G McCausland Hoey and is described as 'Streamline Moderne' in style, rather than typical art deco. Think of it as adding an ocean liner twist – perfect for a retired captain.
Not the most instantly eye-catching house we've ever featured, but this 1960s-designed Camden Pines house in Chislehurst, Kent has the potential to be a real modernist gem.
A large 5-bedroom house in what's described as 'a quiet, secluded location', it was designed in 1968 by the architect Roy Lancaster with a number of features common from that particulalr era, including a large, light living room with floor to ceiling glazing and 'free-flowing' internal spaces. Downside? Well, externally it isn't much of a looker and the internal decor is very 'mumsy', so you'll have to use your imagination about what it could look like with a bit of effort.
We often talk about Art Deco buildings or Brutalist architecture here, but we don’t mention the periods covered by this book quite so much. “The Book of the Edwardian and Inter-war House” by Richard Russell Lawrence looks at the homes built in these periods, a time when most people began to own their own homes and is a great introduction to the subject.
The book describes in detail, across 272 pages, the dominant styles of these periods. It also looks at the showpiece developments such as Hampstead Garden Suburb and Letchworth Garden City and the latter part of the book has sections focusing on individual elements of the house such as fireplaces, chimneys, bathrooms and tiles.
You can buy the book in hardcover for £22.99 from Amazon.
